Wegovy dosage schedule explained: A step-by-step guide

Maybe you are researching Wegovy before starting and want to see the whole schedule laid out before committing to anything. Sixteen weeks of stepping up sounds like a lot when you are still deciding.

Or, you are already on Wegovy, usually at 1.7mg or 2.4mg, and are now wondering about trying the 7.2mg dose.

The Wegovy dose schedule is not a race to the strongest dose.

It is a tool your prescriber uses to find the dose where your appetite is genuinely quieter, your weight is moving steadily, and any side effects stay mild enough that they do not interfere with your normal week.

Patterns across our own patients vary quite a bit.

Some settle at 1.7mg because 2.4mg felt like one step too far, and they lose weight steadily for a year at that dose.

Some reach 2.4mg by week 17 and never move again.

Some go up to 7.2mg at month six, lose more weight, and then come back down.

All three things are normal.

This guide is designed to help you understand the Wegovy dose schedule in detail. This includes:

• What each dose is for and how long you stay on it
• How your prescriber decides whether to move you up or keep you where you are
• What to do when a week goes wrong
• How to know if you are on the right dose
• What the 7.2mg dose involves and who can have it

Before you begin: A little bit about OnlineClinic

OnlineClinic has been operating since 2011 and has treated more than 2.1 million patients.

The pharmacy is registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), our prescribers are registered with the General Medical Council (GMC), and the service is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

As of August 2026, on Trustpilot, the service rating is 4.6 out of 5 based on 6,578 reviews.

For what each stage tends to feel like day to day, our companion guide covers the symptoms rather than the schedule: Wegovy side effects week by week.

Wegovy’s active ingredient semaglutide mimics a naturally-occuring gut hormone called GLP-1.

Semaglutide acts directly on the parts of the brain that regulate appetite and food intake, which is where most of the weight loss effect comes from.

It also causes slowed stomach emptying just after you eat.

Introduce all of that at full strength, and the digestive system objects.

Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and constipation are the four most commonly reported reactions to semaglutide, and the product information is explicit that they appear mainly while the dose is being increased rather than later in treatment.

The same is true of headache, dizziness, and fatigue.

The 0.25mg starting dose exists to avoid that.

It is not expected to produce weight loss, and most people lose little or nothing during those first four weeks.

The doses that follow, 0.5mg, 1mg, and 1.7mg, are different. They are stepping-stone doses on the way to 2.4mg, and they do have a real effect on appetite as you go.

That reframes the first four months usefully. Those weeks are not a delay before the real treatment starts. They are the reason the real treatment is tolerable when you get there.

Here is the Wegovy dose schedule as set out in the Wegovy Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC).

Your prescriber can keep you on a dose for longer if you need more time, and can move you back down if a dose is too strong.

A few practical points apply at every dose:

• Wegovy is injected once a week, on the same day each week, at any time of day, with or without food.
• The injection goes under the skin of the abdomen, front of the thigh, or back of the upper arm, and you can rotate between those sites.
• You can move your injection day if you need to, as long as there are at least three days (more than 72 hours) between one dose and the next.
• Doses are fixed rather than calculated from your body weight.

It is tempting to assume the strongest dose must be the best one.

With Wegovy, that is not the case. Each dose has a specific job, and for most people, the right place to stop is 2.4mg or below.

Three conditions apply:

• You need to have been on 2.4mg for at least four weeks first.
• The 7.2mg dose is licensed for adults with a BMI of 30 or above, only for weight management. It is not licensed for people with a BMI between 27 and 30 who are being treated for excess weight plus a health condition.
• It is not licensed for the cardiovascular indication. If you are taking Wegovy to reduce cardiovascular risk, 2.4mg remains your maintenance dose.

Here’s how the 7.2mg dose got an edge over other Wegovy doses.

The STEP UP trial followed 1,407 adults with obesity for 72 weeks.

It compared 7.2mg against 2.4mg or a placebo.

Here are the STEP UP results at 72 weeks.

At every review point, a prescriber is weighing up three things.

How your weight has moved, how well you tolerated the current dose, and what you want.

Moving up a dose usually makes sense when:

• You have completed at least four weeks at the current dose.
• Your weight loss has slowed or stopped, and you are still short of your target weight.
• Side effects from the current dose are mild or have already settled.
• Your prescriber is satisfied that the next dose suits your medical history.
• You feel ready for it.

Staying on the current dose usually makes sense when:

• Your weight is coming down at a steady rate already.
• You have reached a weight that works for you and want to hold it there.
• The current dose feels comfortable, and the next one feels unnecessary.
• Life is busy, and you would rather not introduce a new adjustment this month.

Moving back down a dose usually makes sense when:

• Digestive side effects have not eased after three to four weeks at a new dose.
• Nausea or vomiting is bad enough to affect eating, drinking, or work.
• Your appetite is so suppressed that you are eating too little and feeling tired and weak as a result.
• A dose you were previously on felt like a better balance between effect and comfort.

There is one review point in the Wegovy schedule that surprises people, so it helps to know about it early.

If you have not lost at least 5% of your starting body weight after six months of treatment, your prescriber is expected to sit down with you and decide whether continuing makes sense.

If you reach six months without much movement, the conversation is usually about whether the dose is right, whether something else is getting in the way, or whether a different medication would suit you better.

Some people move across to Mounjaro at that point, which we cover in Switching from Wegovy to Mounjaro.

Life happens. Here is what to do if you miss a dose, want to move your injection day, or return to Wegovy after a break.

If you miss a dose

• Remembered within 5 days of your usual day: Take it as soon as you remember, then go back to your normal day next week.
• Remembered more than 5 days late: Skip that dose completely and take the next one on your usual day.
• Missed several doses in a row: Message your prescriber before restarting. Coming back at a lower dose and building up again is often the more comfortable route, because the tolerance you built up fades once you have been off treatment for a while.

Never take two doses close together to make up for a missed one. Doubling up sharply increases the odds of a rough few days.

If you want to change your injection day

Leave at least three days (more than 72 hours) between your last dose and the first one on the new day, then keep to the new day each week.

Moving from a Monday to a Friday works in one go.

Moving from a Monday to a Wednesday means waiting an extra week to do it safely.

If you are moving up or down a dose

Moving up: Take the new dose at your next scheduled injection. There is nothing to flush out first.

Moving down: Take the lower dose at your next scheduled injection. Most people notice the side effects easing within a week or two.

You do not need to be on the strongest dose for Wegovy to be working properly. These are the signs a dose is doing its job.

• Your appetite is genuinely quieter. You feel full sooner and stay full longer, without being so suppressed that you forget to eat or cannot manage enough food to function.
• Your weight is going down steadily when you look at the last few weeks rather than the last few days.
• Side effects are mild and occasional. Some queasiness the day after your injection, or reflux after a large meal, is typical. They should not be affecting your work, your sleep, or your ability to get on with normal life.
• Your energy holds up. Some flatness around a dose change is normal, but ongoing exhaustion usually means you are eating or drinking too little rather than that the dose is wrong.
• Food noise has quietened. Most patients notice they are thinking about food less often before they notice anything on the scales.

If most of those are true, your current dose is the right one for you, whichever dose it happens to be.

Wegovy and Mounjaro are both increased gradually over several months, and both have six doses.

The difference is in how those six doses are used, which is worth understanding if you are choosing between them or moving from one to the other.

Neither design is superior to the other. They reflect two different medicines.

The full comparison, including trial results and cost, is in Mounjaro vs Wegovy, and the Mounjaro schedule has its own guide in Mounjaro dosage schedule explained.

Message us through your account if any of the following applies to you.

• A side effect has not eased after three to four weeks at a new dose.
• Nausea or vomiting is stopping you from eating or drinking properly.
• You have persistent, severe stomach pain.
• You are considering moving up a dose but are not sure you have tolerated the current one well enough.
• You are considering moving back down because the current dose feels too strong.
• You have missed two or more doses in a row.
• You are pregnant, or planning a pregnancy. Wegovy should be stopped at least two months beforehand because semaglutide stays in the body for a long time.
• Your vision changes suddenly, including partial loss of vision. This needs urgent assessment.

Log in to your account and message the clinical team.

A GMC-registered prescriber reviews messages the same working day in most cases, and there is no charge for clinical advice while you are in treatment with us.

For emergency symptoms, including a severe allergic reaction, signs of pancreatitis, sudden severe abdominal pain, or signs of serious dehydration, call 999 or go to your nearest emergency department.

Our Wegovy prices start from £69.99.

Every price includes the prescription, the consultation with a GMC-registered prescriber, dispensing, packaging, and delivery. There are no hidden fees and no subscription.

The process is straightforward, and it is the same whether you are starting Wegovy for the first time or moving to a different dose.

• The consultation. A short medical questionnaire, usually 5 to 10 minutes. It asks about your height and weight, your medical history, any other medication you take, and anything that might make Wegovy unsuitable.
• The prescriber review. A GMC-registered prescriber reads your answers, normally on the same working day. If Wegovy is not right for you, they will tell you why. Treatment that is not suitable is not issued, and you are not charged for it.
• Dispensing and delivery. Approved orders are dispensed by our GPhC-registered pharmacy and sent out for next-day delivery, packed cold because semaglutide needs refrigeration before first use.
• For further dose changes. You do not need to start again from scratch. Message the clinical team through your account, and a prescriber will review your progress and decide with you whether to move up, stay put, or come back down.